At Lime Saddle, business as usual - for now

Butte County's dry weather will no doubt affect Lake Oroville. But it will be business as usual at Lime Saddle Marina, at least for now, said the marina's General Manager John Prieto.

"Currently, we still anticipate some inflow, although we expect the pool to be not quite as full as previous years," Prieto said.

He knows there won't be any snowpack, but is still gearing up for a regular summer. He said the season got off to a good start at the end of November and beginning of December.

"If you'll remember, last Nov. 29 the rain started," he said. "We started to have pretty good rains by Dec. 1. We had 122,500 cubic feet per second coming in three days later."

Those rains caused the boat ramp to be submerged under water at a rate of about one foot every nine minutes, Prieto said. He said if some late season rains come in, they will be able to hold the water for late summer recreation, noting that the lake elevation can change drastically from one day to the next.

"In California, (rainfall) fluctuates so radically from one season to the next as far as the winter season is concerned," he said, noting that two years ago, March, April and May brought in a lot of rain that filled the lake.

The water collected from earlier rains tends to get released due to the state water project, he said. Prieto said he knows there's a drought, but he still has to be ready for when the season kicks off.

"We'll take what's left in the pools as we go through the summer," he said.

In the chain of command, the Lime Saddle Marina answers to the California Department of Parks and Recreation, who in turn answers to the California Department of Water Resources, neither of which was available for comment by press time.

Prieta said the departments are discussing the lack of moisture and its effect on recreation at the marina and throughout the state in general. He said the agencies will release a report about their findings sometime in the near future, but he didn't know when. In addition to the low lake levels, Prieta said the warm weather makes for more active wildlife.

"Rumor has it, because of the lack of cold weather, the bears aren't hibernating. We look at the mud to see if there are any tracks," he said.

While they haven't spotted any bear tracks, he said there are some bald eagles flying around.

"A pair with a juvenile are up there flying right now," he said.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife also was not available for comment by press time.

In the meantime, Prieto is hoping for some wet weather as summer season nears. According to AccuWeather, the next foreseeable precipitation will hit the Ridge toward the end of January.

"We're still in business," Prieto said. "The boat launch ramp is temporarily closed, but the marina is still open."